Awakening

Following Purim we are approaching Pesach- time of Freedom and Awakening, as everything in the world is yearning for the new beginning. It's difficult to see the change when we are part of it, and it happens in a slow course of natural evolution, but I guess it's easier to notice in such a vibrant and dynamic country as modern day Israel. Living here since 1991, moving to Australia in 1996 and coming back four years later, and finally, leaving to New York in 2004, and coming back two years ago, in 2011,gives me perspective of the last 20 years plus, still not much for a state, but quite enough to notice the difference - when I first came here in 1991, as a young lad hardly speaking any Hebrew, I found myself in a large melting pot of Israeli society, that was struggling to absorb huge Russian Aliya. Ultra-Orthodox sector, where I was going to be " absorbed", was particularly " troubled" by the newcomers, who brought with them new reality of shops open on Shabbat and selling pork, and general disinterest to religion. It's not surprising then, to learn of the strong dislike towards Russians in the Ultra-Orthodox community. It went both ways- with Russian newspapers often attacking " backward Haredim " and publishing all sorts of stories of their corruption, etc. Secular-religious war was always an issue in Israel, but on the wave of Russian Aliya of early 90-ies it came to a new high! I found myself in a weird position of someone who belongs to both camps- which probably pushed me to think how to bridge the huge gap between them. In early 90-ies, Russian-speaking religious Jew was still a rare sight, and most of my Russian-speaking friends and family had a very hard time accepting my religious identity.
On the other hand, Russian influx also had tremendous effect to change the status-quo of Israeli politics- shifting it to the Right. If in 1992, following successful campaign of Rabin, many Russians voted for him, they wouldn't give their votes to the Labor again-following the shock of Oslo accords and the unleashing campaign of hatred to the settlers after the assassination of Rabin.
This was a time of great division in Israel- between the Right and the Left, the religious and the secular. Time of great hatred, one must admit, coming from all sides of the spectrum.
I'm far from saying that we cured this issue- and we saw some remnants of that old hatred played on again to gain some political dividends ( think of the notorious Shas ad, using conversion for incitement against " Russian goyim ") - but Israelis in large didn't buy it- and it was strongly rejected as non-kosher by all major parties. Disillusioned by the promises of the existing political powers, many Israelis voted for the new voices- Yesh Atid party of Yair Lapid, representing mainly the Secular Left, and the new National- religious party of Naftali Bennett. These two have much in common despite their obvious differences- both are arguing for the necessity of a major change and restructuring in Israeli society, to allow the struggling middle class to benefit from the good shape of Israel's economy, both are representing large groups of Israelis who wish to go beyond the existing conventional "rules of the game" - saying no to political maneuvering and sectoral politics of the small parties who only act as lobbying groups for their sector of society ( Ultra- Orthodox, National- religious, etc ). It's significant that Bennett managed to get large number of the secular voters, and Lapid got supported from both Right and Left.
New Israel is emerging in these elections- Israel that is seeking to redefine itself. Who are Israelis, what are they standing for, and what's our national identity based on? We don't have clear answers to these questions- but I think, we start to realize that THESE QUESTIONS ARE VERY IMPORTANT- and maybe, this understanding is going to BRING NEW AWAKENING!
Finally, I can't overlook something that deeply moved me- the recent speech of MP Calderon, which already became famous. She pulled out the volume of Talmud, and said-
This book changed my life!
She argued that secular Zionists were building this country largely unaware of our Jewish heritage- and it's time to claim it back! Her remarks were both personal and sincere, and many MP's came to give her a warm hug afterwards. Granted, one speech is not enough- but let's hope it's a sign of a new beginning!

Fresh look at Amalek within us

These days we are commanded to remember the Evil of Amalek- often viewed as the Arch-enemy of G-d and his people. As we remember from the Torah, Amalek attacked the Jews at the point of their journey from Sinai to the Land of Israel, demonstrating his total rejection of any Divine intervention into human history, and even willing to cross the desert and confront the Jews, solely to show his animosity. Later we meet Amalek's descendant Haman in the story of Purim, and Haman's hatred of the Jews pushes him to seek the first Final Solution in the Jewish history. We celebrate our victory but should still remember what Amalek and his descendants did to us, fulfilling the Mitzva of " Mechiyat Amalek"- erasing his memory.
Here comes the question- by remembering Amalek, we seem to be doing just the opposite- we NEVER FORGET! So how are we erasing his memory then?
Another important question is " Who is Amalek? " With Sennacherib ( ancient Assyrian conqueror) mixing the nations of the world, we don't have any way to trace the original tribes of the past, so says the Talmud ( and our common sense strongly agrees ) So WHOM are we supposed to " erase" anyhow?
Answering this question, most contemporary Rabbis point to Amalek as a symbol- symbol of Evil, such Evil that acts out of no benefit, simply motivated by blind hatred. In our times of the horrors of the Holocaust many came to associate this with Nazism, and the like. Others explain, that we must eradicate Evil from our hearts and minds ( various explanations given usually pointing to different bad character traits that we must eradicate - Pride, Anger, etc )
I think we can actually combine both perspectives, if we ask the following question-
HOW THE HOLOCAUST BECAME POSSIBLE?
How otherwise decent people committed such acts of violence and despicable brutality on a massive scale? During the Nuremberg Trials, many Nazis claimed that they simply followed the orders. This brings forth another question- To what degree are we humans capable of doing Evil, when we are " simply following orders ", not seeing ourselves as personally responsible for the outcome of our actions?
This very question was asked by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, who conducted his world famous experiments on obedience to authority figures. His experiment was conducted in 1961, right after the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Eichmann’s defense that he was simply following instructions when he ordered the deaths of millions of Jews roused Milgram’s interest. In his 1974 book Obedience to Authority, Milgram posed the question, "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?"
Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person- how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities for example, Germans in WWII.
In his experiment, the volunteer was asked to help in study of the effect of pain on human memory- and for this purpose was supposed to give an electro shock to the " learner" - each time increasing the voltage for every wrong answer. There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 (danger – severe shock).
Before conducting the tests, Milgram polled fourteen Yale University senior-year psychology majors to predict the behavior of 100 hypothetical teachers. All of the poll respondents believed that only a very small fraction of teachers will be willing to administer severe levels of shock.
Yet the reality proved truly shocking results- about 65% of the "teachers" in the test administered the maximum level of shock ( potentially lethal ) to their " students" - this despite the fact that they clearly heard them screaming, knocking on the wall etc. This experiment was repeated in different countries, with similar results.
Here's what Milgram wrote about it in his book -
Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.
This experiment seems to tell us something frightening about the human nature- when confronted with difficult moral questions, we often choose not to take responsibility and simply yield o authority.
Judaism brought into the world the idea of Man created in the Image of G-d, his Freedom of Will and thus Moral Responsibility for his actions. If this is what Judaism stands for, we can understand what the essence of Amalek is- essential Doubt that Man possesses such Greatness, stripping him from any G-dlike identity. After all, we are simply more advanced animals. It's not a coincidence, that Hitler actively promoted this vision ( later referred to as Social Darwinism )
“Truly, this earth is a trophy cup for the industrious man. And this rightly so, in the service of natural selection. He who does not possess the force to secure his Lebensraum in this world, and, if necessary, to enlarge it, does not deserve to possess the necessities of life. He must step aside and allow stronger peoples to pass him by.” - Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf.
And possibly this would answer our first question- we OUGHT TO REMEMBER, WE MAY NOT FORGET- what such vision of man and such philosophy does to humanity!
We ERASE Amalek's memory by recognizing the traits of his philosophy in our own hearts and minds! This paradox of remembering to erase the memory in fact is teaching us another lesson-
AMALEK WILL NEVER DISAPPEAR! Our human nature is in constant conflict between Good and Evil, and this would continue on- to help us make the right moral choices, and to elevate us to serve G-d with Love and Compassion, with our Free Will and desire to do Good, eradicating cruelty and herd mentality from our midst!
Happy Purim!

On Integrity and harmony

This post comes as a result of my reflection on the subject of Integrity- something we discussed recently on my facebook group, Jewish explorer. Integrity is an important value for me personally (possibly, I would put it on top of the list- which in fact, I did during my recent coaching session). In fact, I believe, Integrity and honesty on all levels is an essential ingredient of any meaningful interaction- and most important factor in bridging the gap between different cultures, and different people. So, naturally, I was challenged to look for a Jewish answer to the question of Integrity.
And here's my understanding of one of the fundamental teachings of Rabbi Yehuda ha Nassi (the Prince-that's the usual translation-although Nassi was an equivalent of a President those days). The author of this teaching, as you know, was most prominent Torah scholar (so no one can tell me, we are dealing with some "marginal case" here) , and also the compiler and codifier of the Mishna- huge undertaking never to be repeated in Jewish history in the scope of what was done [up until that point, Oral Torah remained oral and was never recorded]
Here's the text-
Rabbi [Judah HaNassi]* would say: Which is the right [Yashar] path for man to choose for himself? Whatever is harmonious [Tiferet] for the one who does it, and harmonious for mankind.
I included Hebrew words here on purpose, as this translation, although very close to the original, still fails to express all the power of the Hebrew text
So, Rabbi (that's how they call him- simply Rabbi- rabbi 'by default' is R'Yehuda ha Nassi)- is asking an important question- I'd say, if there's one question we are to ask ourselves- it's probably this one! How to live your life, which path is right, which one to choose? Notice, however, in the original Hebrew, this RIGHT path is called YASHAR- so to speak, something we can visualize as STRAIGHT path, something that we can follow
Maybe YASHAR also implies that it's relatively straight-forward- so, the answer has to be simple and clear!
Simple and clear it is- very YASHAR- Whatever is TIFERET (harmonious) for the one who does it ( stress is on the word DOES), and TIFERET for mankind
First, notice how straight this answer is- here you have an equation, on both sides of which is TIFERET- usually translated as beauty, but more accurate translataion will be Harmony. Harmony is supposed to be beautiful, but it's much more- it also has depth! It's a 3D beauty, beauty with the sense of purpose and direction! Here we have all three dimensions of life, based on Kierkegaard- aesthetic (beauty), ethical, and religious [although at this point we can only recognize the first two, we'll get to that later]
This equation presents us with the real challenge though- how often do we find, that our Internal Truth, our Tiferet of the first part of equation, comes into conflict with the second part- what society expects us to do?
Notice, however, that the word does appears only in the first part- whatever is Tiferet for the one who does it! One would expect, that the first part, which speaks of man to himself and recognizes this as an important sphere of life, would be more focused on thoughts and emotions, rather than action- and in fact, should we read- Whatever is harmonious for the one who follows it would probably make more sense- after all, one follows the path, and  is not doing it! This stress on action is imho, very precise here- it's NOT enough to have harmony in your mind and in your emotional world- the OUTCOME of that in the World of Actions is what counts in the final analysis!
With that in mind, let's move to the second part- here we have Tiferet for mankind- and if I'm not mistaken, this Tiferet for mankind is coming as a result of his actions- for that reason, no need to emphasize action again-it's been already accomplished in the first part! What counts now, is check and balance mechanism- and the word Tiferet, by the way, certainly is associated with balance- the challenge here is to see, how your actions, coming from your Inner Truth (there's a very deep connection between Truth-Emet- and Tiferet- harmony- which is well-known to all who are familiar with the Sfirot- Divine emanations- there Tiferet and Emet are interchangeable!)-how your Tiferet-based actions bring Tiferet to mankind? And we all understand, that this is not self-evident- what's good for me, and even right and straight in my eyes, may clash with the inner truth of others, thus bringing DISHARMONY- the very OPPOSITE of Tiferet!
So we have strong ethical considerations on both sides of the equation, i.e- Are my actions in tune with my Inner Truth (first part), but also- Are my actions in tune with the World? And this doesn't mean, of course, to simply become comformist- as this would compromise the first part! What it means, is to find the RIGHT BALANCE- not a compromise (again!)- but the TRUE TIFERET! We simply add an extra dimension to TIFERET- it has to be both Self and World- centered, in true harmony with the dual calling of Man- be true to yourself, and be true to your calling- and also, look at your mission AS PART of a GLOBAL WORLD evolution- thus, your calling will become even more noble, stripped of the layers of your Ego, that so often doesn't allow us to see, how all conflicts and all struggles in the world are but different colours of the rainbow, representing one True Colour of G-d! But of course, to get to this point of Transcending Unity, one needs the third dimension of Tiferet- Religious one!
This article is meant to be some sort of an 'appetizer', and I hope we will be enjoying the 'main course'soon!

         

Freedom and Holiness

These days I'm thinking how to bridge the gap between different groups within Israel- mainly, religious and secular. Very often, it seems, we are simply speaking different languages, and it becomes impossible to come on terms. We need to understand the difference of perspectives, and first, one has to be open minded and willing to accept the opinion and worldview of the other. This is far from obvious, when it comes to real life- all too often we choose to act self-righteously, and here in Israel, it's true on all levels- including politics as well. But my first interest here is to make some sort of a breakthrough in mutual understanding- and I do believe it's possible.
Taking into account the historical baggage we have on both sides, sticking to existing preconceived notions and stereotypes well too often stops any genuine search for Truth and Shalom- and in my humble opinion, we desperately need both!
So, here's my first observation- religious and secular world have different set of values- and this is what I call, different languages. In order to get engaged into any sort of meaningful discussion with the opponent, one needs to understand and respect his set of values- which of course, doesn't mean, to agree with everything he has to say. To the contrary, I strongly believe that such meaningful dialogue, with both sides truly interested in each other's perspective on tings, can enrich Jewish world tremendously, and in many ways I would compare such dialogue with the famous Talmudic dispute between the two schools- Hillel and Shammai. Talmud brings this argument between the two schools as an example of the argument for Heaven's sake (or, in simple English, for the sake of Truth). But to get there, huge effort is required on both sides-
Religious world would need to come to terms with the simple fact of life- secular world is here, and is not going to disappear. If we understand that G-d is playing in history, and is behind all major historical changes, we cannot simply treat this as some sort of an aberration or mistake- or as very often implied, sin on a massive scale- Rebellion against G-d and his people. This was the traditional position of the Orthodoxy in the beginning of the 20th century, and little has changed since then. Rav Kook was possibly the only great Rabbi of the generation who had enough courage to face the challenge of Atheism and Secularism-and truthful to his belief that any such change cannot be viewed as misguided rebellion, and even explained how Judaism and Jews are benefiting from it- Atheism raises very important questions, and collides with those aspects of religion that became resistant to any change, and thus not ready to accept the Light of G-d appearing in a new form and shape of Modernity .
Current approach to the secular world in Ultra-religious circles is usually two-fold-
First, you have those who would plainly state- "Hilonim (secular) are sinners, and we have nothing in common with them!"
 Then you have something called Kiruv- we need to encourage these "misguided'people to come back to their roots. Usually this is done with some tact and understanding (people are not going to change in one day)- but the ideology behind this approach is still the same- secularism is wrong and needs to be uprooted!
So, essentially, Ultra-religious are still holding the same ground, one can argue, out of inertia and lack of strong leadership, unwilling to acknowledge the New Reality- Secular Jew. This new character, child of the Modern Age, has his set of values,which we are yet to discover (later in this article),  and if Religious world wishes to deal with him, it needs to be brave enough to look into his face and see there the Image of G-d!
On the other hand, Secular Jewish world has plenty of stereotypes regarding religious Jews- and most importantly, is still unwilling to recognise his very own Brother there- albeit wearing different clothes, and thinking differently.
So here comes the question- once we established (at least hypothetically), that we have different expressions of G-d's Will on both sides of the argument, and are willing to look into each other's face, as equals and as brothers and sisters- what's next?
I believe, as stated above, we must establish and understand each other's fundamental values (don't ask me how to do it- I'm not there yet!)
In my opinion, if we are to define most fundamental values of religious and secular world, and are to pick just one on each side, we will have Freedom and Holiness. My strong belief is, that if we become aware of both, we WILL EVOLVE GREATLY AS HUMANITY!
Freedom is essential for the secular definition of Man- just take a look at all the great accomplishments our modern world is so proud of- freedom of speech, religion, freedom of thought, academic and political freedom, economic freedom, individual freedoms (such as freedom of privacy, freedom of movement, etc)- one can clearly see, that freedom defines the very core of our society, since the Enlightenment.  
What is religious perspective on Freedom?
On one hand, Judaism postulates free Will of Man as the greatest gift given to him by G-d- and thus, making him G-dlike! On the other, Judaism puts on us various demands, that would largely restrict our freedom- mitzvot are obligations, and if you fail to follow them, your behavior is considered wrong/sinful.  
To understand this apparent paradox, we may recall two expressions of freedom in Hebrew- Hofesh and Herut. Hofesh is largely similar to the secular definition of freedom- it's acting with no external restrictions, and is essential in freeing man from external slavery. Herut, as explained by Sages, is accomplished by submitting  your personal will and desires to the will of G-d- in Jewish context, as expressed in the Torah.
Very often, Herut and Hofesh are viewed as opposites- but I suppose, we should rather view them as COMPLIMENTARY!  Herut MUST be based on our clear expression of GENUINE INTERNAL DESIRE TO SEEK G-D- and if this doesn't happen (in other words, we only have Herut with no real Hofesh)- we have a robotic caricature on man, so often seen in our contemporary religious society!
On the other hand, Hofesh has to be elevated with the new sense of purpose, which Herut may provide. Hofesh as liberation of man from all external chains is not completed, unless it's imbued with high idealism and true desire to elevate mankind to the great summit of "Kingdom of Priests". Many secular thinkers would recognize how Hofesh without Herut is incomplete- but in order to understand where to take this energy from, we must now turn to the other side of equation- the religious one.
Religious world proclaims the value of Holiness- Kdusha- as the most essential value in life. There's absolutely no way to understand this on secular terms, we must add an extra dimension to Life- to see it's all elements in constant process of growth and evolution, imbued with direction and purpose- and I'm consciously not using the word G-d- as this word is very often taken to mean certain antropomorphisms and other ideas, we as society had outgrown. One does NOT need to be religious to recognize such value- and I just bring you one example of a contemporary mystic Etkhart Tolle, who influenced millions in the world by his groundbreaking teaching in The New Earth. He calls himself spiritual, but not religious (not associated with any particular religion- and in fact, often very critical of institutionalized religion). What is he coming to teach? His message is simple- living in the NOW. Go beyond your Ego, and embrace the mystery of Life- something religious person would call Holiness of life! If we can judge by the huge reaction of millions in the world to this message, it seems, Tolle found the right language to communicate to humanity the most important tool it requires today to grow and evolve- we, on Jewish terms, can relate to it as Kdusha!
 In conclusion, we live at a very special time of which our prophets spoke-
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth- and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind...and it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they yet speaking,I will hear...
they shall not hurt nor destroy in my holy mountain, said G-d" (Isiah, 65:17-25)
..               

Freedom of thought in religious world

Some of our recent discussions on facebook (Jewish Explorer group) brought my attention to the following comment, made by some blogger (certainly an  informed one) regarding the influence of Chassidic lifestyle on the Litvishe world. Here's what he is saying-

As noted the classic Litvisher Yeshivisher type is a rare bred today. For example no one at Ner Israel in the 1950's wore their tzitzis out. It simply was not done. No bachur sported a beard

Also, the burgeoning personality cults of Roshei Yeshiva has been adopted by the Litvisher world from the Chasidsher World. In the "old" days, no Poseik {Litvisher or otherwise} was treated as infallible by the Litvisher world. That has changed. The Mishnah Brurah has been canonized by the Litvisher world into something beyond the authority of any predecessor I can think of. Certainly the Chayei Adam or Shach, or Aruch Hashulchan were never treated as complete final authorities.

The old Litvishe world was more skeptical and talmidim challenged Roshei Yeshiva with difficult blistering questions. It used to be the role of the Yeshivisher Talmid to take his rebbe to task. Now it seems the role is to just to answer "amein gut gezukt" w/o any challenge lest one be considered disloyal.

As one of my Litvsiher rebbes admonised us - ich vill nisht keinfrum teira! {I don't want any pious learning - ie- think for yourself before you acquiesce to what I say!}

I am leaving this thoughtful post without any comments- as I think, it is quite self-explanatory, and very much thought-provoking- as to where are we going, and what should be our priorities 

Prayer

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
- Reinhold Niebuhr